Ingredients:

• Medium sized Karelas – 2
• Grated Coconut – 1 cup
• Red Chillies – 3 to 4 (according to taste)
• Jaggery, grated – 2 to 3 tsps (according to taste)
• Urad Dal – 2 tsps
• Channa dal – 2 tsps
• Jeera – 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds, hing, Curry leaves for tadka
• Oil – 3 to 4 tsps
• Lemon Juice – 1/2 small cup
• Tamarind pulp – 2 tsp
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and chop karelas. Keep in a bowl containing lemon juice and salt for about an hour before cooking. This will take away the bitter taste.
2. Dry roast urad dal, channa dal, red chillies and jeera.
3. Add all these ingredients with grated coconut and make masala paste.
4. Take oil in a flat bottom vessel and fry pre-treated karelas after thoroughly squeezing them out of the bowl to separate the bitter juice.
5. Once they are fried, add tamarind pulp, jaggery and cook the karelas.
6. Add the masala paste while cooking and add water to thin the curry according to the requirement.
7. At this stage, you can adjust the amount of jaggery according to the taste by adding more if required.
8. Bring it to boil and season with mustard, curry leaves and hing.
9. This tastes great with rice, dosa, adai and even upma.

Recipe courtesy of Sify Bawarchi